Window Shopping

When my husband and I got married, he already had a house so I moved in with him after the wedding. I like his house, yes I still call it his house even though I've been there for over a year. The one thing I don't like is he lived there for 8 years before me and seeing as it was a bachelor pad, it was not as clean as I'm used to, not really decorated and needs some TLC (OK, a LOT). We've gone back and forth about buying a new house to call "ours" or stay here. Like I said, I like the house. It is in a great location to shopping and freeway access and the yard alone is worth it, but to me it is still hubby's house, not ours.

In order to sell our house and get decent money, we do need to do some things on the house: siding, roof, driveway repair and windows. Our first decision was to get the windows done. So I called 3 companies to come out for estimates. I had no idea what we were in for! Company A came out and after 2 1/2 hours, my head was ready to explode with all the information. Between the light test to feel the heat, double pane, triple pane, lines or no lines, half screen or full and design of the outside windows, wow. Who knew window shopping was so involved and so expensive? Not this apartment dwelling girl! They also check for lead paint since our home was built in the 1970's. Company A said all was clear, phew, no extra cost for that removal. We had our appointment with Company B later on that day, what were we thinking? Even my husband was exhausted after the first appointment. Same talk, but more condensed, only 2 hours. The interesting thing, he did the lead test and it came back positive! So added expense for old window removal, WTF Company A, were you lying about the lead because you wanted to keep costs down? Having a baby in the house we would rather be cautious. Now we liked this guy and know many people that went with this company. He made us an offer we countered, he came back with a number much more to our liking and then we sent him outside so we could discuss as he wanted/needed and answer then and there. Another tactic I hate that salespeople do, but after 4 hours of out lives wasted hearing about windows we were ready to make a decision. Sorry Company C. So after a 20 minute discussion, we got him down about $3500 less than what he first offered us and we accepted.

Yay to new windows! Hopefully by the middle of December they will be in. We get to take advantage of the tax credit too, so that's a bonus. And so we begin our home improvement process. Pictures will come as we get started.